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Help! Very confused.

My baby boy is 13 weeks old. We have been having problems with nursing since he was born. After he nurses he spits up a lot and it doesn't just dribble out of his mouth he shoots it across the room. He was diagnosed with acid reflux and was put on prevacid. He has green mucusy poop, very bad gas, stomach pain, very fussy.. He will not nap unless being held when I try to lay him down he wakes right up and cries. I've been to the doctor twice and to the nursery at the hospital once to try to figure out what going on. They told me to watch my diet no diary products, caffeine, eggs, ect. I've tried cutting foods out of my diet for three weeks, I've tried block feeding to make sure I was emptying my breast all the way nothing is helping so far. Help would be appreciated. I've experimented with formula this weekend and all these symptoms disappear. I just am not ready to give up nursing just yet.

Re: Help! Very confused.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new baby and on making it to 13 weeks of nursing!

When your baby spits up, does it upset him, or is he a "happy spitter"? In general, spit-up that occurs without pain in a baby who is growing and developing at a normal rate is a laundry problem, not a health problem.

How would you assess your milk supply? About right, or overabundant? Do you ever experience any of the following:
- frequent feelings of engorgement or fullness
- a lot of leaking
- strong letdown sensation
- baby pulls off the breast during nursing
- milk streaming or squirting from the breast, perhaps for many seconds, if baby pulls off breast during a letdown
- baby gags, chokes, coughs, splutters, or makes a clicking or clucking sound while nursing
- baby produces consistently or frequently green/greenish poops
- baby gains weight extremely fast

Did you ever catch one of those across-the-room spit-ups on video? When a mom says that her kid's spit-up literally flies across the room, I have to wonder about the possibility of pyloric stenosis, which is rare but nevertheless worth discussing with the doc.

ETA: the dietary eliminations you are doing are probably not necessary. Although allergies or intolerances to substances in a mom's diet can cause a baby discomfort, those issues are far less common than problems with oversupply, fast letdowns, or reflux.

Re: Help! Very confused.

Okay, spit-up that doesn't bother baby is really nothing to worry about! Just make sure you swab out his neck folds with clean water and maybe a little gentle soap once a day- spit-up can get caught in the folds and cause irritation. And lay in the bibs and burp cloths- again, this is a laundry issue, not a health issue.

When you have an oversupply, it can take a lot more than a single week of block feeding to tame it. I had to block feed for several months- not that that is typical. Have you tried feeding baby in reclined nursing positions? That's often a good way to make nursing more comfortable for the baby, leading to decreased air intake and less need for burping.

Re: Help! Very confused.

I've tried reclining positions and the side laying position. I burp him frequently. The doctors told me to pump and give it to him through a bottle for a week to see if that helped with the fast let down and such but it didn't help either.

Re: Help! Very confused.

Bad advice from the docs. Pumping doesn't help a mom manage oversupply or fast letdowns, and giving a baby the bottle for a week just puts the breastfeeding relationship at risk.

So, basically you have a healthy baby who spits up a lot and is fussy and gassy, right? If those are your prime concerns, I think you can relax a lot. Oversupply and fast letdowns can be a challenge- BTDT!!! But they are temporary problems, they do not jeopardize the baby's health in any way, and putting up with them is well worth the end result of having a breastfed baby down the road!

I know formula may seem very tempting right now, but trust me, it's not the answer!

Re: Help! Very confused.

Do you have a sling and/or swing? Many babies hate being put down. There's this idea out there that babies should nurse and then nap or play peacefully in a crib or bassinet, giving mom time to herself... And that just doesn't happen. Especially with very young babies. Wearing your baby in a sling can allow her to nap- in an upright position, which is great if she has reflux!- while giving you the ability to move around and get things done.

Re: Help! Very confused.

This all sounds pretty normal for a 13 week old (the fussing and not wanting to be put down part, I mean - mommal's the queen on advice for the other stuff!!!). It's frustrating, but it won't last forever. Hang in there, it will get easier! I tend to carry my 3-month-old around a lot either in a sling or on my back in another kind of carrier called a mei tai. If she's awake, I can still move around the house and have my hands free to do stuff, little things at a time. If she gets fussy and wants to nurse, I just stop and nurse her (or sometimes nurse her in the sling). The house is a mess, but it won't last forever. I do what minimal housework needs to be done when I can, and leave the rest. I do try to put her down for short periods when she is in a good mood to try to get her used to being put down, but if she protests, I pick her back up. We just started using the exersaucer, which will entertain her for a few minutes at a time....